CAMPUS-BUILDING MUST CATCH UP WITH GROWTH.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer

Low crime, blocks and blocks of fresh new houses, carefully landscaped boulevards and an emerging business base are drawing hundreds each year to the Santa Clarita Valley and that poses a big problem.

This affluent and very young community just north of the San Fernando Valley has fallen woefully behind in one very basic function: providing public schools.

State law requires that home builders contribute to school districts to help accommodate the children their developments generate, but the sum is nowhere near enough to cover the cost of building a campus, staffing it and stocking it with supplies, library books and outdoor facilities.

The situation has reached the crisis stage, with nearly every school in the valley crowded well beyond its intended capacity. Some schools have been forced onto the unpopular year-round multitrack schedule. Others are so crowded they've closed to new residents, who must send their children to schools beyond their own neighborhoods and away from friends.

On the whole, as of September the Santa Clarita Valley's 38 schools were a total of 13,428 students beyond capacity. Sixteen schools are at various stages in the planning process, many delayed over the years because there was no money.

There is some good news, but it comes at a cost.

Some developers have agreed to go beyond the minimum requirements to build schools, but business is business, so the costs are tacked on to housing costs. At the same time, residents valleywide approved a $158 million bond measure in November to build new high schools and junior highs. Homeowners will repay the bond in their property taxes.

It's a start, but school construction takes time.

Rio Vista Junior High School, scheduled to open last September in Valencia, but plagued by lawsuits and construction problems, is now due to open in time for the 2003-04 school year.

High school relief won't come until the following year when one of two planned campuses opens. Golden Valley High School will open on the city's east side in 2004, West Ranch in the western valley by the following year and then a high school in Castaic is planned.

Until then, high school students will shift to a college-style schedule to open up classroom space. Classes will begin at dawn and continue into late afternoon with students having the option to start early or later, take a few hours off at midday, or take breaks to attend classes at College of the Canyons.

At the elementary school level, previously approved bonds are showing results. A new school will open in Valencia's new Bridgeport development in the fall, and the state has approved new schools in Newhall, Canyon Country and the fast-growing Stevenson Ranch area. Castaic, too, is settling on sites for new elementary campuses.

Still, while classes valleywide are overcrowded, local schools for the most part particularly elementary campuses have scores well above state averages on standardized testing. School officials attribute successes to heavy parental involvement and dedicated staffs.

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SANTA CLARITA PRIVATE SCHOOLS